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| Message Subject: VHS in the Winnebago System | |||
Team Rhino |
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Posts: 512 Location: Appleton | I saw on a local news site that Little Lake Butte Des Morts has had a few sheephead tested that were positive for VHS. This doesn't sound good. I kinda wonder how this will affect fishing as we know it. From what I know this can spread easily and cause major fish kills. http://www.postcrescent.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070512/APC... Edited by Team Rhino 5/12/2007 10:16 PM | ||
| sworrall |
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Posts: 32924 Location: Rhinelander, Wisconsin | Yes, the article is posted on WalleyeFIRST and is in the News Trawler on the MuskieFIRST front page. This doesn't look good at all... | ||
| muskynightmare |
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Posts: 2112 Location: The Sportsman, home, or out on the water | so many dirty shames running around the fishing world (walleyes and musky). it aint even funny. the good old days are now. live them while you can! | ||
| woodieb8 |
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Posts: 1530 | sad but the policticians never listened. now its here. lets hope . . after last year seeing hundreds belly up on st clair, its very disturbing. | ||
| muskyboy |
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| Sad news, let's hope something can be done to isolate the impact or proactively find a solution | |||
| HE is watching |
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| VHS is something to watch, but it will probably not be as bad as people are going to make it out to be. New things are introduced to our resources on a yearly basis and they do not turn out bad in the long run. Examples follow... Zebra Mussels: What they were to do: Were suppose to wipe out all of the good small organisms and make the smaller bait fish starve. What they did: Cleaned up the water and changed the fisheries and locations of fish because of the clear water. Made anglers change their way of fishing different species. Alewifes: What they were to do: Decimate the ecosystem and eat up the zooplankton from the perch and eat the perch eggs. What they did: Gave the Great Lakes an awesome forage that is still thriving today, along with the perch. Goby: What they were to do: Wipe out the eggs of game fish and over-populate the Great Lakes. What they did: Gave the smallies something to get big and fat on. BKD (Bacterial Kidney Disease): What it was suppose to do: Wipe out the salmon population. What it did: Eliminated the weak salmon and is non-existant that experts know of today. There are many other examples, but these are some that have hit the Great Lakes area that were suppose to be TERRIBLE. It really does not look that bad now, does it? | |||
| toothn'nail |
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Posts: 55 Location: SW Michigan | Heiswatching, I see your point, but only partially agree. I agree that it'll probably boil down to nature taking care of the problem eventuially with (hopefully) fish building up a resistance to the disease. Maybe nothing we can do about it as ourselves. But to minimize the impact of all the exotics I don't agree with. All these exotics have had a huge impact on the great lakes & the native species. Most by direct competition. What happened to the smelt? They're all but gone. Perch fishing- Lake Michigans is still struggling to come back, try it some day, you might get 10 Gobies to 1 perch. Still don't know what the long term impact of them will be. Zebra & Quaggas- cleared up the lakes & also reduced the bio-mass of the lakes, not to mention forever changed the eco-system of the big lakes & just about every inland lake within driving distance of them. Not necessarily for the better. BKD decimated the population for a few years but like you said went away eventually. Rusty crayfish destroyed some inland perch populations in Michigan. Lamprey's decimated the native lake trout in LK MI & are a constant problem that is only kept under check by spending lots of money on population control programs. Eurasion Milfoil brought to inland lake & crowding out native species & messing up local ecosystems. Sea flees......... The list goes on & on. And I'm sure there's more wating to be introduced. Now there's the carp in the Mississippi system only held back by an electric bvarrier. Every exotic thats introduced is in direct competetion with a native species & disturbs the balance. Sure nature will restore a balance, but who knows which ones nature will select. Might just be the exotics. | ||
| sworrall |
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Posts: 32924 Location: Rhinelander, Wisconsin | VHS has had a very serious impact on fish populations in some areas, and IS a very serious problem, especially on low density populations like Muskies. Not much we can do about infected waters but watch what the impact is, but I wouldn't minimize the importance of avoiding transfer of the disease to other lakes and rivers. I don't think it would be a good thing for Pelican or George. VHS has just shown up in the Winnebago system, and the lock folks reported seeing more dead fish floating than they have ever seen before from any other die off. So, the short answer is yes, it does look pretty bad. I hope you are right. How's boat sales? | ||
| muskie! nut |
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Posts: 2894 Location: Yahara River Chain | When I was at the emergency Natural Resources meeting, they did mention that some of the fish built up resistance to VHSv, but if they are not constantly around it, it can go in cycles as the immunities wear off. I think this will have a bigger impact that the others that HE is watching says. even tho history had proved otherwise with other invasive species. | ||
| tfootstalker |
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Posts: 299 Location: Nowheresville, MN | Bad, Bad, Horrible news. Devastating affects for fisheries stocks and fisheries managers. A nightmare all around. Prepare for skyrocketing bait prices and reduced stocking efforts. Edited by tfootstalker 5/13/2007 6:31 PM | ||
| ESfishOX |
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 Posts: 412 Location: Waukesha, WI | I fear the affects. I'd like to hear more from the folks that frequent those waters. | ||
| Oneida Esox |
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| Hey Heiswatching, you forgot about CWD. That should have ended deer hunting as we know it based on all the scare from several years ago, yet we still have more deer than we can handle. I'm not saying VHS is or isn't bad, but I have to agree most times these scares are just that.....scares. | |||
| dogboy |
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Posts: 723 | I have grown up on Bago for most of my life, there have always been shad die-offs, mooneye's, and major sheephead kills ( from anglers bouncing them off the corner of their boat) This years shad die-off was rather large, filling shorelines and channels to the point where its still stinking of rotting oily fish as we speak. Don't know if this has anything to do with VHS, but, I haven't seen any other larger kills of other fish. The main thing that kills the shad that quick is an extreme drop in water temp. That happened way back in January when our "cold" weather finally got here. I think it also has something to do with the shad getting older, or reaching their mature size. That is usually when we see the normal die-offs, when they get to about 12-15 inches. I think its just their life cycle. Just my thoughts though, no facts other than years of watching what happens out there. As far as game-fish go. I have seen some odd die-offs in small secluded areas in Green Bay, I have seen many dead pike always right around the musky opener. They look as if they have been dead for a little while, most of them dead on the bottom. I wonder if it is from spawning? or just when the muskys come to the shallows to have words with them? I have been seeing this roughly for 6 years or so. I have also seen muskies in this system with some odd moldy looking stuff on their heads or side of their bodies. Can anyone else add any insight to things I have mentioned??? | ||
| Reef Hawg |
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Posts: 3518 Location: north central wisconsin | So, I imagine this pretty much sums up the end of Great Lakes Strain stocking for this year, unless some fish from Long lake can be netted for spawn? | ||
| sworrall |
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Posts: 32924 Location: Rhinelander, Wisconsin | http://www.michigan.gov/documents/dnr/Viral-Hemorrhagic-Septicemia-... | ||
| Team Rhino |
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Posts: 512 Location: Appleton | Yes Reef Hawg is correct. The DNR needs to get eggs from Long Lake soon or there will be no stocking of Spotted Ski's this season. | ||
| MuskieE |
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Posts: 2068 Location: Appleton,WI | DATE: May 12, 2007 CONTACT: Mike Staggs, Fisheries Director, (608)220-2609 George Boronow, Regional Fisheries Coordinator, (920)662-5426 SUBJECT: Fish likely infected with deadly virus found in Little Lake Butte des Morts; Menasha Lock closed; Public asked to take steps to stop the spread MADISON – The Department of Natural Resources announced Saturday that two fish from Little Lake Butte des Morts in the Lake Winnebago chain of lakes have preliminarily tested positive for the deadly fish virus called viral hemorrhagic septicemia or (VHS). Additional dead fish samples taken from Lake Winnebago, itself, appear to have the virus. Though VHS is not a health threat for people who eat or handle fish infected with the virus, it can infect more than 25 game fish, panfish and bait fish species. State fish managers had suspected it to be present in Lake Michigan and possibly in Lake Superior and in the Mississippi River. This would be the first infection to be confirmed in Wisconsin inland waters. Wisconsin recently enacted emergency rules for boaters, anglers and people who harvest wild bait to prevent the spread of VHS in inland waters http://dnr.wi.gov/org/caer/ce/news/rbnews/BreakingNews_Lookup.asp?i... “This is a major fish health crisis,” said Fisheries Director Mike Staggs, “We have to take aggressive steps now and enlist the help of the public to stop this spread.” Fish managers met Saturday to implement immediate steps to deal with the infection and limit its spread. DNR asked the Fox Locks Authority to close the Menasha Lock immediately and to keep it closed until more information about the spread of the disease could be confirmed; boaters can expect to be turned back from the lock starting today. In addition, DNR began the process of posting all boat launches with actions boaters should take to avoid spreading the disease. “We need to err on every possible side of caution,” Staggs said. “Believe me, nobody wants to see this disease get into more of our lakes. Do not take live fish (including unused bait minnows) away from the landing or shore. Drain all water from bilges, bait buckets, live wells, and other containers when leaving the landing or shore.” Little Lake Butte des Morts is downstream from Lake Winnebago and separated by one dam and one functioning lock, which has now been closed. The Lake Winnebago chain is home to Wisconsin’s unique sturgeon population. On May 11, 2007 the University of Wisconsin Veterinary Diagnostic Lab (WVDL) informed DNR that two samples of freshwater drum taken from Little Lake Butte des Morts on May 2, 2007 had tested positive for VHS. The samples have been sent to an approved federal lab for confirmation. The fish were collected by DNR fisheries staff during muskellunge spawning netting and were submitted for testing because they had shown external signs of VHS. Since that time, DNR has been receiving reports of hundreds of freshwater drum dying on Lake Winnebago, itself. On May 9 and 10 samples of those dead fish were sent to WVDL for testing. A visual inspection of the Lake Winnebago fish by DNR’s certified fish health inspector showed the same external signs of VHS as the Little Lake Butte des Morts fish. Also the DNR staff that collected the fish on Little Lake Butte des Morts reported seeing dead and dying drum washing over the dam separating that water from Lake Winnebago. Because the virus can infect so many different ages and species of fish, VHS could spread more quickly in inland lakes, which are much smaller than the Great Lakes, potentially devastating fish populations and fishing opportunities. Walleye, spotted musky, yellow perch, bluegill and northern pike are all susceptible to the virus, as are common bait species such as emerald and spot-tail shiners. DNR is appealing to anglers, boaters and other water users to help prevent the further spread of VHS by taking a few simple steps: Never move live fish or fish eggs to other waters and always buy bait minnows only from Wisconsin bait dealers because bait from other states may not have been tested for VHS. These steps are required by the new emergency rules. Inspect boat, trailer and equipment and remove visible aquatic plants, animals, and mud before leaving the lake launch. Drain water from boat, motor, bilge, live wells, and bait containers before leaving a lake. This step is recommended for boaters on all waters and is required under the emergency rules for boaters on the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River and their tributaries up to the first dam. Dispose of leftover bait in the trash, not in the water. Do not take live fish or live fish eggs away from the boat landing. Rinse boat and recreational equipment with hot water OR dry for at least five days. Report large numbers of dead fish or fish with bloody spots to your local DNR fish biologist or conservation warden. Wisconsin already has taken steps to deal with VHS. The state Natural Resources Board on Wednesday, April 4, unanimously passed emergency rules prohibiting anglers and boaters from moving live fish, and requiring them to drain their boats and livewells, before leaving Wisconsin’s Great Lakes waters, the Mississippi River and those waters’ tributaries up to the first dam. Fishing in Wisconsin is a $2.3 billion industry. More information on aquatic invasive species and Wisconsin’s programs to prevent their spread is available on the DNR Web site. -30- Important Questions and Answers on Viral Hemorrhagic Septicemia (VHS) What is VHS? What is the significance of the recent discovery of VHS in the Great Lakes? Viral Hemorrhagic Septicemia is an infectious viral disease of fish that has been found in fish from the Atlantic Coast of Europe and Atlantic and Pacific Coasts of North America. Historically, VHS was known as a very serious disease of freshwater-reared rainbow trout in Europe. At least four different genetic strains or forms of the virus are known to exist. The North American marine strain has a relatively low infection rate compared to that of the European freshwater strain. Until 2005, VHS was only found in the marine environment in North America. Several fish kills in the Lower Great Lakes since 2005 have been associated with VHS. To date, VHS has been confirmed from wild fish in the Bay of Quinte Lake Ontario, Lake St. Clair, Lake Erie and the St. Lawrence River. Scientists believe that this appearance may represent an invasion of the freshwater strain in North America. What North American freshwater fish species are affected? In the Great Lakes, VHS has been found in smallmouth bass, yellow perch, crappie, muskellunge, northern pike, bluegill, walleye, round gobies, sheepshead, and some sucker species. Scientists are concerned; however, that VHS could also strike native salmonids such as trout, salmon and whitefish in the wild, and salmonids in hatcheries and net pen operations. How did VHS get here? It is unclear how the virus spread to the Great Lakes; it is possible the marine virus may have been introduced to the Great Lakes some time ago and it simply evolved to live in freshwater. The VHS virus is a strain that undergoes rapid mutations (spontaneous genetic changes) and may have adapted to freshwater environments in North America. Recently, VHS was found in stored fish samples that were collected in the Great Lakes during 2003, suggesting the virus has been present in the Great Lakes for some time. How does VHS spread? It is unclear exactly how the disease is spread but it appears that the virus can be shed by infected fish into the water through metabolic waste materials, particularly by fish that survive the disease and become carriers. It also appears that carrier fish or offspring of carriers become more resistant to the disease. The virus can infect fish of all ages. It may enter a host fish through the gills or food or contact with some contaminated object. It does appear that stressed fish more vulnerable to viral infection. Typical fish stressors include sudden water temperature changes, crowded hatchery conditions and, spawning activity. The timing of the recent fish die-off in the Great Lakes coincided with the spawning by some of the fish species, such as muskellunge. What does it do to fish? What are the symptoms of a fish with VHS infection? Like many fish diseases, the type of symptoms present in a fish change with the severity of the infection. At low infection intensity fish may display few to no symptoms as is the case in most wild disease outbreaks. Hatchery or pen-reared fish are much more susceptible because of the confined conditions. As the infection severity increases, fish become darker and the eyes bulge with some bleeding around the eye and base of the fins. The gills are usually quite pale with some pin point bleeding. Mortalities appear at this point because hemorrhaging reduces the oxygen carrying ability of the blood. Dark red patches may appear on the front and sides of the head. If the fish is opened up, bleeding on the surfaces of the intestine, liver, swim bladder can be seen. Fluid also builds up in the body cavity giving the fish a swollen belly. Later, if infection increases, the body continues to darken and the eyes really stick out of the head. At this point, the gills look gray or even white and the fish may swim in a corkscrew pattern. Most fish kills from VHS occur in water temperatures from 40 to 60 F (3-12 C) and few occur at temperatures above 62 F (15 C). NOTE: The detection of a VHS infection can only be made from sophisticated laboratory testing. A diagnosis cannot be made based solely on the observation of visible signs because many different diseases of fish have very similar signs of disease. What is the long-term outlook for VHVS in the Great Lakes? Diseases like VHS run their course just as they do in human populations. At first mortalities may appear to be large, but many biologists believe that most fish can survive the disease if they are not otherwise stressed because mortalities generally occur in weaker, stressed fish. The remainder will build up a natural immunity to the virus and the numbers of fish killed by the virus will decline. Is it a health risk to people? There is no apparent health risk for people contracting VHS. Because it takes a long time to identify the causes of fish kills in lab studies, people should be cautioned against handling or eating any fish that does not act or appear to be healthy because of the risk of contracting avian botulism a bacterial disease that does pose a human health threat. What is being done to prevent the spread of VHS? The state Natural Resources Board passed Emergency Rules effective April 2007 require that boaters and anglers: Note: In light of a preliminary positive test of two fish on Little Lake Butte des Morts, the DNR is asking all boaters and anglers to immediately adopt these practices on all state waters. · Drain all water from your boat, trailer, bait buckets, coolers, and other containers before you leave the landing or shore fishing site location on Lake Michigan, Lake Superior, the Mississippi River or their tributaries). · Do not transport live fish, including bait fish, away from any Great Lakes or Mississippi River drainage landing or shore fishing location. This includes tributaries up to the first dam. · Do not use "cut" or dead bait from other waters (except when fishing in Lake Michigan, Green Bay, or tributaries). · Do not use minnows unless they were purchased from a Wisconsin bait dealer or you legally caught the minnows from the place you are fishing. In a hatchery, the best means of controlling the disease is to prevent the contact of the virus and fish. This can be done by hatchery disinfection, egg treatment with anti-viral agents, and using ultra-violet light treatment of hatchery water. It is important to stock disease free fish and to monitor freshwater populations for signs of further spread. Information on diseased wild fish is difficult to obtain because they often die undetected and fish can decompose rapidly making disease diagnoses very difficult. New research is being developed that would allow more rapid detection of the disease. What should I do if I see a fish kill? If you observe a fish kill on the Great Lakes, please contact the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources at (608) 266-8782 or your local DNR office. If you see fish with any of the outward signs of VHS as described above please mention this as well. This will help biologists keep track of where the disease may be appearing. These questions and answers about VHS were developed by the University of Wisconsin Sea Grant Institute and the Department of Natural Resources | ||
| tfootstalker |
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Posts: 299 Location: Nowheresville, MN | HE is watching - 5/13/2007 12:30 PM Zebra Mussels: What they were to do: Were suppose to wipe out all of the good small organisms and make the smaller bait fish starve. Alewifes: What they were to do: Decimate the ecosystem and eat up the zooplankton from the perch and eat the perch eggs. So where did the sauger on Winnebago go when th ewater cleared up? Oh yeah, they prefer turbid waters. Ask the commercial fisherman if the perch are back in GB... | ||
| Justin Gaiche |
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| Now certainly isn't the time for us to voice our opinions or make negative remarks to each other. Now is a time to act. Making sure the weeds, water and live bait is removed from your boat before it reaches another lake is not good enough. Your livewell needs to be treated, your boat washed with a bleach based solvent. When your at the boat launch, don't get pissed inside when you see a guy with weeds on his trailer, educate him, perhaps he'll be enlightend and do the same. We can blame the transportation of these on commercial boats but we as anglers are making as much of an impact on it as anyone. Do your part, don't yell at each other and lets help prevent it. | |||
| Guest |
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HE is watching - 5/13/2007 12:30 PM VHS is something to watch, but it will probably not be as bad as people are going to make it out to be. New things are introduced to our resources on a yearly basis and they do not turn out bad in the long run. Examples follow... Zebra Mussels: What they were to do: Were suppose to wipe out all of the good small organisms and make the smaller bait fish starve. What they did: Cleaned up the water and changed the fisheries and locations of fish because of the clear water. Made anglers change their way of fishing different species. Alewifes: What they were to do: Decimate the ecosystem and eat up the zooplankton from the perch and eat the perch eggs. What they did: Gave the Great Lakes an awesome forage that is still thriving today, along with the perch. Goby: What they were to do: Wipe out the eggs of game fish and over-populate the Great Lakes. What they did: Gave the smallies something to get big and fat on. BKD (Bacterial Kidney Disease): What it was suppose to do: Wipe out the salmon population. What it did: Eliminated the weak salmon and is non-existant that experts know of today. There are many other examples, but these are some that have hit the Great Lakes area that were suppose to be TERRIBLE. It really does not look that bad now, does it? We're fortunate that the Great Lakes is managed by biologists that rely on facts not feelings. In fact, if concerns of the biologists within the Lake Michigan and Lake Huron basins are taken into account then YES. All of the above are an ongoing issue, some of which are just now being realized. The plantivorous fish in Lake Huron crashed a few years back. Why? Zebra mussels. The southern end of Lake Michigan is due for a similar problem in the next few years. If all the pelagic species crash then the perch populations will be put under stress from the salmonids. Not good considering they already have issues with the goby. You see, if an invasive or a disease doesn't decimate an entire fishery that does NOT mean that it isn't causing major problems. All of the things listed were/are problems and continue to be problems With VHSv we can only guess what impact this will have on an inland lake. | |||
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